Thursday Evening

Drama Teen made her and Little Prince some tea, but he threw a wobbly because she didn't ask him what he wanted first!! After lots of fuss, and me ending up shouting he did eat it! Princess Lollipop refused point blank to even touch hers, except to throw it across the room!! I left Drama Teen supervising while I fitted the twin DVD players in the car, its such a faff getting them in and out that we hardly ever use them, but as I've got tinted windows I've decided to leave them in the car now. They worked perfectly as a distraction for the littlies while Drama Teen had her singing lesson :-) Even with Little Prince insisting on fast forwarding/rewinding every few minutes!! It was driving me insane, but Princess Lollipop doesn't really follow the stories so she wasn't bothered at all!

After the lesson we drove over to the DIY shop, and despite being assured last week that they would get more stock of the lights that Mr Messy has chosen they still didn't have any. Luckily he's seen some similar ones in a different shop, so we'll get those instead. Then we went to the supermarket, they had a huge Halloween display and the littlies choose their Trick or Treating costumes. Little Prince is a going to be a Ghostly Pirate and Princess Lollipop a Baby Witch :-) Although the hat supplied with her costume won't fit over her curls so we bought a headband with a mini witches hat on instead, which fits her perfectly and looks incredibly cute :-) Drama Teen doesn't want to go Trick or Treating this year, she is trying to persuade us to let her have a Halloween party instead!!

By the time we got home it was time for Little Prince to go straight to bed, he was quite happy to go up as he was fairly tired. When I went up later to tuck him in I found another reason he didn't argue about going to bed - he was reading his Harry Potter by torchlight lol. Somehow I managed to get Princess Lollipop to eat something and then get tucked up in bed in between putting mine and Mr Messy's tea on, and it being cooked, so I got to eat without sharing with Princess Lollipop for once!!

Once we'd finished eating me and Mr Messy researched dehumidifiers for OUR shop, as we've noticed it gets quite damp and has lots of condensation. We don't want any of the photographs getting damaged so hopefully this dehumidifier will do the job, we'll just run it overnight so it won't annoy me and Princess Lollipop (and all of our customers of course!) during the day. Princes Lollipop woke up part way through the final choosing of which model to buy, but I got her straight back to sleep and was able to finish choosing and actually buy the one we chose, it should be delivered within the next two days :-)

Thursday

After yet another disturbed night, when my alarm went off I switched it off and must have gone back to sleep!! Luckily Little Prince came to get me at just after 8am!! I dashed around like a lunatic getting everyone's breakfast and making sure Little Prince got ready for school. We were running that late that I had to put Princess Lollipop's coat and shoes over her pyjamas to take Little Prince to school!! Its such a good job my car has tinted windows!!! We then dived home to get her dressed before I had to be a delivery lady this morning! I delivered some photos to one client and a signature mount and photos to another. I hope they both like their photos :-) On the way home me and Princess Lollipop then did the supermarket shopping. We visited a fast food restaurant for some lunch before coming home, naughty but convenient!

By the time we got home Princess Lollipop was fast asleep so I moved her to the sofa, and had enough time to get all the shopping put away. I also spoke to Mad Cat Lady, she is going to drop off some more merchandise for our shop tomorrow and wanted to check exactly what we need. She also had some more ideas for vintage things to use for Winter displays :-) And she wanted to tell me about an article she had read online about some new research into ADHD suggesting that it could have a genetic cause. I'll have to read the link she's sent me later. She did warn me that some of the comments following the article are the usual "they just need a good hiding" or "its bad parenting" type, but I'm quite used to that by now!! I'd just like these people to spend some time with Little Prince and then see if they still say the same things!!!

I also spoke to the furniture shop that is supplying OUR shop's furniture, and arranged for them to deliver tomorrow lunchtime :-) It all seems to be coming together nicely :-)

On the way home from Drama Teen's singing lesson tonight we'll go to the DIY shop and see if they have any of the uplighters that Mr Messy has chosen for the shop. We'll also have to go to the shop next door and get a mop and bucket for OUR shop, as I want to make sure I mop the floor before the furniture is delivered. Then again I might not have time tonight so Mr Messy will have to do it when he's in the shop tomorrow :-)

Wednesday

Yet another restless night from Princess Lollipop, I really really need a good night's sleep!! As she was fairly tired I got her to go down for her nap earlier than usual which I thought would work out great as she'd wake up earlier and be happy to go to Stay and Play. As usual she had other plans lol. She did wake up earlier but was in a bad mood and refused to even look at her lunch and was very clingy and moody, so there was no point going to Stay and Play. She didn't eat her lunch until after we got back from almost picking Little Prince up from school!! And by almost I mean that we got to school and he was invited to his friend D's house to play :-) I was so pleased that he was invited and that D's Mum agreed that he could go over, D and Little Prince have tried to arrange to play before but D's Mum always has a reason (excuse??) for it not to happen. Both boys ran off together with D's Mum, whilst I got a wailing Princess Lollipop back in the car - she cried and cried for Little Prince :-(

When Drama Teen got home from college we got in the car and went to pick Little Prince up from D's house. On the way back home I stopped at the village shop so that Drama Teen and Little Prince could buy some food (well junk actually!!) for their picnic!! Princess Lollipop wailed again that they had left her, and only cheered up when they got back in the car! The weather was horrible wet and rainy, so Drama Teen and Little Prince had their picnic in his room. They found an old blanket to turn the underneath of his bed into a den :-) Little Prince was thrilled to have his very own picnic and undivided attention from one of his Big Sisters :-) He was quite excited and FULL of sugar when he came back downstairs so that Drama Teen could get on with her homework. I just cooked the littlies a quick pizza for their tea, so that I could cook without having to get Drama Teen to come down and look after the littlies while I was cooking. Princess Lollipop only played with hers, but as she'd had her lunch not that long beforehand she probably wasn't that hungry.

When Mr Messy came home he had tonnes of work to do to for the photography business and to keep on target for getting the shop ready. He bolted his tea down and barely finished it before he went back to his office to carry on with his work. I hardly saw him at all :-( He'd finally done all he could and we were about to start watching something on TV when we heard Princess Lollipop wake up, we gave up and went to bed too!!

Evening

J's Dad came to pick him up, and the boys ran straight upstairs and hid!! No amount of telling them to come down would persuade them to return!! J's Dad had to go upstairs to get him, and then the boys were each blaming the other for the stunt!! Knowing what they are both like it was probably a joint scheme!!

After J had gone home, and Drama Teen returned from college, I was going to make the littlies tea. Princess Lollipop screamed at the thought of being left with her brother and sister while I cooked, and got that agitated that Drama Teen went and cooked instead. Princess Lollipop clung on my knee screaming "GOOOOO WAAAAY" at her brother and getting more and more worked up. She was quite obviously tired and very out of sorts, so I cuddled her to sleep while Little Prince ate his tea, and Drama Teen put Princess Lollipop's tea in the fridge to reheat when she woke up. Which she did when I handed her over to Drama Teen and she wasn't happy about yet another interrupted nap either!! Unfortunately I had to leave to go to the shop and had to leave Drama Teen taking Princess Lollipop for her tea, and hope that it went well!!

There was nowhere to park anywhere near OUR shop, so we had to park what felt like miles away especially as I'd taken our vacuum cleaner with me so that me and Little Prince could clean up the floor!! Me and Little Prince sorted all the rubbish left by the joiners into rubbish and recycling. Then when Mr Messy arrived he opened the back room (my key isn't working for some reason!) so we could store all the good sized off cuts and left over under floor insulation sheets. Once that was all out of the way we vac'd the floor, Little Prince had a go to start with and then Mr Messy finished it off. Mr Messy then took Little Prince to the nearby chippie to get them both something to eat, Little Prince loved the idea of a picnic in the shop :-)

They had just finished eating when Mad Cat Lady arrived with her delivery - a full size antique rocking horse!! Mr Messy helped her carry it into the shop and then we gave her the full tour lol!! We chatted for ages and Mad Cat Lady has some vintage cameras that we can borrow for display and some trunks we can use as side tables too :-) She is also selling pub letters (the large letters that pubs have on the outside walls spelling out their name) and we are buying "NOEL" and "LOVE" obviously one is for Christmas and the other is for "wedding season." We've got to start thinking ahead so that we can decorate the shop for each season/holiday - our first challenge will be Halloween!!

Little Prince was so over excited to see Mad Cat Lady that his behaviour soon got out of hand and Mr Messy had to take him home. Me and Mad Cat Lady stayed to chat and ended up talking for the next three hours - we had a LOT of catching up to do lol. When I finally looked at my watch neither of us could believe what time it was!!! It was lovely to have the time to chat and whinge and put the world to rights, we'll have to try harder to get together more often!! Although with both of our work commitments its so hard to find the time!!!

I was expecting chaos when I got home - kids running rampage and Mr Messy tearing his hair out! I should have more faith in him, both littlies were tucked up in bed, Drama Teen was doing her homework and Mr Messy was watching tv. He said he knew we'd chat for hours and then gave me a big bar of chocolate :-) Life is good :-) Now off to bed and fingers crossed that Princess Lollipop sleeps through!

Tuesday

I had to give Little Prince bad news this morning (he won't be able to visit Mad Cat Lady's house tonight as planned) and he was so upset :-( He stomped around the house for ages and then flumped on to the sofa saying he was sad and tired. I know Mad Cat Lady can't help the change in plans (due to work commitments) and he will be seeing her at our shop when she delivers some stuff for our shop, but I really wish she hadn't changed the plans at such short notice :-(

When I'd dropped Little Prince off at school I drove straight down to the furniture shop where we've bought OUR shop's furniture, so that I could pay the rest of the money for the furniture and arrange for delivery later this week. The shop wasn't open until 10am so me and Princess Lollipop came home for a while and will try again later!

We managed to sort out the furniture later, its now all paid for and they are going to ring me either today or tomorrow to arrange the delivery :-) I had another trip down to OUR shop to get some pictures that I can hopefully get off my camera this time!! Then me and Princess Lollipop went for some lunch at a cafe, she wasn't that hungry and just shared my omelette.

When we got home she was tired and fell asleep, I took the opportunity to get on with some jobs, until I suddenly realised I should have been picking Little Prince up from school for our Podiatry appointments!! I ran round like a loony getting my stuff together, and even managed to get Princess Lollipop into the car without waking her up!! School had Little Prince ready and waiting at the gate for me to grab him and go :-) He then spent the whole journey questioning the legal speed limit compared to my driving speed!!! I was in a hurry!!! Talk about back seat drivers!!

The Podiatry appointment went well, Little Prince has to carry on wearing his insoles (or plimsoles as he calls them!!) and the Podiatrist confirmed that the x-rays showed no damage to his bones, so the injury must be a soft tissue problem. The insoles will support his hyper mobile joints and allow the tendons to heal, well as much as they can when Little Prince can't stay still for a moment. My appointment didn't have as much good news :-( The top joint of my big toe is fused together, which I had guessed as I can't bend the toe at all, and the second toe has healed badly and the bone looks all twisted. The only treatment options are either carry on with the insoles, steroid injections or surgery! Unsurprisingly I've decided to go for sticking with the insoles!!! The Podiatrist said I might get more trouble with it as I age, but as I am managing with the insoles its ok to stick with them for now. We both have to go back in three months time to check we are getting on ok, and then we will probably be discharged, but with the ability to go back if we encounter any further problems.

I dropped Little Prince back at school, and me and Princess Lollipop had barely stepped in the house before we got a phone call from the business next door to OUR shop. Apparently the joiners had left all their rubbish in the corridor at the back of the shop, which blocked the adjacent business's access to the shared toilet facilities!! I had to rush out and move all the rubbish into OUR shop, accompanied by Princess Lollipop, who wasn't very happy to be stuck in her buggy while I moved everything. But there is so much sawdust, nails and bits of rubbish all over OUR shop that I couldn't let her out!!

We got back just in time to pick Little Prince up from school, and somehow I got persuaded to let him have his friend J come over to play! I thought it was his turn to go to J's house, ah well!! J's Dad is picking him up at 5pm, so I'll have time to get the littlies their tea before having to go back to the shop to get it cleaned up and to be there when Mad Cat Lady delivers some of the stuff for the shop. Little Prince is sad that he can't go and see Mad Cat Lady's husband, sons, cats and dogs, but is a little mollified that he can help me in the shop and Princess Lollipop is too small and will have to stay at home with Drama Teen!! Well fingers crossed she will as I haven't asked Drama Teen yet if she'll babysit yet!!!

Shop Floor

I couldn't resist last night and at about 10pm I drove over to the shop to see how the floor was coming on!! The shop was all locked up and in darkness as the joiners had already finished, so much for working through the night!! They had fitted the flooring and the trim round all but one wall of the room, I think they ran out of trim! The floor was covered in sawdust and flooring/trim off cuts, but under all that mess the floor looked really good :-) It looks so much better than the cheap blue contract carpet that was in before!! The joiners used layers of insulated underlay to level out the uneven floor too, so there isn't such a dip when you go towards the back of the shop. I took a few pictures but then found that someone (Drama Teen?!?!) has taken my memory card out, and the camera memory only had room for a couple of photos. I can't even get them off my camera either, as I always use a card reader and have no idea where the wires are to connect the camera directly to my computer!! So until I sort that out I can't post any photos, sorry!!

Monday

Yet another restless night from Princess Lollipop, so I was tired again today, I'm beginning to forget what wide awake feels like!! Princess Lollipop was a little less clingy today, so perhaps she is starting to feel a bit more settled and will start sleeping soon ... well I can always hope!!

After I picked up Little Prince from school, we had to pop down to OUR shop :-) I was meeting with the Landlord and the joiner, who is going to lay the floor tonight :-) We arrived early so Little Prince and Princess Lollipop had fun playing, although with Little Prince in the lead it soon descended into a screaming chaotic game!! Which was just when the Landlord and the joiner arrived!! Despite all my encouragement and firmness Little Prince didn't calm down AT ALL!! He just got worse!! MUCH worse!!! I've given up being embarrassed by his behaviour, I just try and get on with what I am doing and calm him down as much as I can and try to stop him annoying others - not easy and not always possible.

The joiner got straight to work laying the underfloor insulation, which Little Prince insisted on jumping straight on to and lying and rolling over on it!! Copied by Princess Lollipop!! We also discovered that the lock for the back door was broken, luckily the joiner will be able to fix that tonight too! He (and his Dad) will work through the night to get the floor fitted for us, although they probably won't be able to do the other little jobs we had lined up for them. We'll have to get them to come back or we'll have to get someone else in to do the rest of the jobs, its only a few bits of things so shouldn't take someone more than an hour or so.

When we got home Princess Lollipop refused point blank to eat her pasta, she just put it on her fork and then waved the fork around till the pasta flew off and then started again. She had the screaming abdabs if I tried to divert any to her mouth!! After five minutes of this I took her away from the table, which caused an even bigger tantrum with lots of tears and sobbing!! And to top it all Little Prince knocked over his full glass of water all over the table!! I'll try Princess Lollipop with something else later, but she obviously doesn't want pasta tonight!!! To cheer her up Little Prince is playing Mario Kart Wii with her, she really thinks she is playing and gets so excited :-) That didn't last either, Little Prince was doing great and winning all his races, but the moment he started to lose and couldn't catch up he turned the Wii off and threw the controls :-(

Mr Messy rang from OUR shop to say the joiners were 3/4s of the way through fitting the floor already :-) And that it was looking great :-) He then nipped to the nearby chippie to save me having to cook tea :-) He got Princess Lollipop some fish, which she ate quite a bit of, however he got all frustrated because he couldn't eat his own tea as he was feeding Princess Lollipop. He went upstairs to do some more editing on a wedding from earlier this year, where the bride has been SUPER demanding and every time he thinks he has finished with it, she asks for more edits or work done on her photos!! It is turning into a never ending nightmare!! He came down cross and even more frustrated as he couldn't remember how to do the particular edit the bride wants (picture in black and white apart from one or two details in colour) and sat on the sofa fuming for a while!! I have had enough drama today so I just ignored him, and he's now gone back upstairs to his office!! Hopefully having thought about it he's remembered how to do the edits needed and will be in a better mood next time he comes downstairs!!

I'm just about to try Princess Lollipop with her third tea of the night and see if she eats that one! I think she is too young to say "if you don't eat that you don't get anything else" and if she has a full tummy she might actually sleep tonight!!

Sunday

After my restful day yesterday, I had lots of jobs to catch up on and Mr Messy looked after Little Prince and Princess Lollipop so that I could get on with them all. I've managed to find the dining table from under its carpet of clutter!! I've filled in a number of outstanding school forms, including one for an upcoming school trip that Little Prince is desperate to go on. And I've filled in the parental report for his assessment for a statement of special needs. Busy busy busy. It feels so good to have got all those things (and all the mundane stuff like washing, drying, dishwasher filling etc) done and out of the way :-) Although I won't get chance for a while as Mr Messy has escaped to go and see our accountant and fix his computer and deal with some company stuff with him!! He can only stand so long looking after the two littlies before he has to escape lol. They are both playing on Mario Kart on the Wii, well Princess Lollipop has a Wii-mote with no batteries in, but she thinks she's playing so is totally happy :-)
Before he went I did get chance for a lovely long phone chat with my best friend Mad Cat Lady. She told me about her new cat (a Ragdoll kitten called Mr Darcey), I've lost count of how many that makes!! Her work related visit to Paris (no she didn't get to visit Disneyland Paris!!), her eldest's new job working for his Mum and Dad and how her youngest was getting on at college (he's loving it). We've arranged to go and see her on Tuesday evening, as Mr Messy needs to see some of their merchandise to see if it will work in his shop, and Little Prince is desperate to see them, he's really missed Mad Cat Lady recently as she's been so inundated with work we haven't had chance to get together :-(

Drama Teen's boyfriend is round and they've just come back from the village shop where they've been buying supplies for a picnic. The weather is so yukky they are having an indoor picnic though!! Little Prince was so upset to be excluded that Drama Teen has agreed to have a picnic with just her and him after school next week, which was very sweet of her :-)

Saturday

I had a pyjama day :-) I was so tired after yet another wriggling disturbed night from Princess Lollipop. I was much better for the restful day, and the fact that I went for a nap with Princess Lollipop when she had her's :-) Mr Messy took Drama Teen and Little Prince out, so me and Princess Lollipop could have a long undisturbed nap :-) So there's not a lot to write about today really lol.

Singing Lesson

Drama Teen had her singing lesson this evening, her first since the Summer hols and since her teacher moved house. The new house is quite a bit further away, which makes it impossible for me to go home with the little two, so I had to sit in the car with them for the half an hour lesson. They were not amused!! Princess Lollipop was kept fairly calm with a CD she enjoys and Little Prince played on his Gameboy for a while. After that he got very frustrated with the game he was playing and eventually threw the Gameboy on the floor of the car and said it was stupid and he hated it. Its still there!

Princess Lollipop wouldn't eat her tea before we left for the lesson, I'm not sure if its because I tried to feed her at a different time, or if was what I tried to give her (a pasta bake she's never tried before). She then refused to touch her snack that I took along in the car, and tore up the sandwich and threw it at Little Prince and all over the floor before I could stop her!! I don't think she's going to sleep well tonight as she's going to be hungry :-(

We got home at the same time as Mr Messy, who'd been held up on the way home yet again, but not quite as badly as the other night luckily. He took Little Prince to bed, while Drama Teen looked after Princess Lollipop and I put tea on for me and Mr Messy. Princess Lollipop did eat quite a lot of our tea, so perhaps she won't be as hungry as I thought, fingers crossed!! While she was looking after Princess Lollipop, Drama Teen's friend JP arrived and was very put out that Princess Lollipop kept calling him the name of Drama Teen's boyfriend!! That's a bit cryptic but I don't use people's real names so it made it difficult to explain lol. He said he didn't want to watch it, but he seemed to enjoy the Phineas and Ferb episode Drama Teen put on for Princess Lollipop. Drama Teen makes him watch Friends with her (we have every episode on DVD) and now I think she's trying to convert him to liking P&F too!!! Poor lad!!

At one point in the evening when Princess Lollipop was wide awake, happy and playful Mr Messy tried to get her to play with him, which resulted in her having a complete meltdown and screaming for Mummy even though I was within touching distance. This is really really upsetting Mr Messy as Princess Lollipop used to be a total Daddy's Girl, and now he says she treats him like an axe murderer or something. Its upsetting me too, as I can't get a minutes peace from my gorgeous little Klingon!! I'm suffocating!!! That's probably why I stay up after everyone else has gone to bed and write this blog, its MY time!! I just wish I was more awake so I could enjoy it a bit more!!

Supermarket Shopping

Once I had dropped Little Prince off at school, in his usual grumpy mood - refusing to read his reading book and shouting about various things, me and Princess Lollipop went straight to the supermarket. It was quiet relaxing wandering up and down the aisles without any older children asking "Can I have..." every few minutes lol. Princess Lollipop chattered all the way round and once the trolley was full enough tried to grab all my shopping!!! She was still wide awake when we returned home and wasn't happy to sit in the car while I ran in with all the shopping bags. She was even less impressed to be sat in her buggy in the kitchen while I put everything away!

She was very happy once I had finished all that and we could go and play in the lounge :-) She fell asleep after her lunch (she didn't eat much though) and slept for a few hours, and for once she wasn't on my knee sleeping, so I managed to catch up on a few emails. Unfortunately I didn't get to finish them before my email system packed up!!! Its done this before I think its something in the format that Mad Cat Lady sends her emails, they have fancy fonts and coloured backgrounds and my email system can't cope!!

When I picked Little Prince up he informed me he had a different teacher today, and he was totally out of sorts and shouting about what a rubbish teacher she was! He ranted about that and about his reading book before we even got in the house! The littlies are going to have an early tea tonight as we have to be out at about 5.45pm until after 7pm taking Drama Teen to her singing lesson, her teacher has moved house and its a lot further away than where she used to live! Little Prince ranted about this too and is threatening not to eat anything at all if he can't either go to Macs (not happening as he'd expect it every week!!) or have tea at the "right" time!!

The scaffolders have just turned up to take it all down, I thought Little Prince would be fascinated but he couldn't care less, its Princess Lollipop that's glued to the window watching what's going on!! And I've just had to make a bunch of cups of tea for them, typical British workmen lol.

Quiet Day, Noisy Evening!

Yesterday me and Princess Lollipop had a really quiet day, the nightime restlessness seems to have finally caught up with her and she was very tired and grumpy. She ended up having two naps, one in the morning and another short one in the afternoon. When she woke up from her afternoon nap we went straight to her Stay and Play session at Little Prince's school. We only made it for the last half an hour, and all Princess Lollipop wanted to do was sit on my knee and suck her thumb! She didn't want any snack and didn't want to join in with the singing session. She did seem confused that Stay and Play was so short and tried to run off and play in the garden!

When we went back to school I picked up Little Prince and his friend J. As the scaffolding still hasn't been removed from our garden (and I'm sure that the two boys wouldn't be able to resist trying to climb it!!) I took them to the village park to play for a while. The boys immediately ran off to the opposite corner of the field and disappeared through the hedge!! When they eventually reappeared I made them come over and told them they had to stay in sight from now on or we would have to go home. Their next trick was to pull over the football goal, so I had to tell them to behave again! They carried on playing nicely for a while, until they decided that running round and round the toilet block was their new favourite thing to do! As the toilet block is adjacent to the car park and recycling centre I had to give up and take them home! At home they played pretty well with none of their usual fighting and falling out. Princess Lollipop wasn't impressed that they played in "Boy World" (the section of the lounge with Little Prince's small toys eg Lego, that is barricaded off from Princess Lollipop) and screamed at them to be allowed to join in, which of course she was too small to do! They also made themselves snacks, which resulted in lots of Nesquick all over the worktops and milk all over the floor, and the boys stuffed with sugary sweets - no they didn't ask me first!!! There other "mishap" was stamping each other's faces with the craft stamps to make each other blush!!! They looked rather strange with Disney Car shaped blushes lol.

J's Mum rang and said she would be a little late picking J up, she had been at a training course all day and was then caught in traffic getting home. She said she had been worrying about me having both boys all day, probably due to Little Prince's fall off the wheelie bin last week at her house!! When Drama Teen returned from college I asked her to watch Princess Lollipop while I took the boys upstairs to have a play on Little Prince's new slide bed, a supervised play!!! J went home with his Mum pretty nicely, usually he runs off and hides (Little Prince does the same at their house!!) and won't go with his Mum or Dad!!

After J had gone home I got Little Prince to go in the shower, as he was certainly living up to his Dirt Magnet name!! He can shower himself pretty much now, so long as he wears his swimming goggles while washing his hair, otherwise he gets hysterical if shampoo goes in his eyes (screaming out that he's blind!!). Princess Lollipop had her tea while he was in the shower, but once again she hardly ate anything, which doesn't help the restless nights!!

Mr Messy was very very late home, due to an accident on his route and subsequent backed up traffic! Little Prince was very upset that Daddy wasn't home before bedtime and said he likes all his family to be at home together. By the time Mr Messy got home and done some admin work for his photography business it was almost time for bed :-( Neither of us like the huge amount of time he is having to spend working instead of with the family :-(

Long Night! Busy Day!!

It was a long restless night, and for once it wasn't due to Princess Lollipop! I had to get up to go to the loo in the night, and it took ages to get back to sleep. I didn't feel I'd been asleep for long when Little Prince came in our room as he needed help changing his bedding after an accident. I had to search all over the house to find a clean fitted sheet, so it took ages to remake the bed! Not long after I got back in bed Mr Messy's alarm went off, which disturbed Princess Lollipop who crawled over for a snuggle with Mummy. The snuggles are lovely, but its hard to sleep while being tickled by all her curls!!

I really wished it was the weekend when my alarm went off!! But I had to get up and get Princess Lollipop in the bath to wash, condition and comb her hair. I try to wash her hair every other day or so, as it doesn't get too tangled that way and I can only comb it when she is in the bath and her hair is soaked in conditioner. Even doing that she still cries and screams :-(

The little two had just finished their breakfast when Mr Messy's framer arrived with some mounted prints I have to deliver to his client later today. The prints look fabulous and very professional in their mounts :-) Hopefully once our new shop is open more people will see his photography and book him for shoots as he is very talented :-)

Once he was ready for school Little Prince came over and said he had something to tell me! That's always a worry!! Then he said I would be mad at him, but if he told me now perhaps I wouldn't be too mad!! Getting more worried by the minute!! He admitted he'd tried to make himself microwave popcorn!! He said it didn't make a lot of popcorn and he'd cleaned up all the "seeds" and put them back in the box!! I told him that I was pleased he'd told me what happened, but that he knew he wasn't supposed to try and cook with out a grown up with him! Hopefully he'll remember next time, before he starts not after!!! The trouble is he has no impulse control whatsoever at the moment!!! Now I just have to get to the bottom of the mysterious oil (like car oil!) smell in the utility room, Little Prince denies any knowledge of what it could be!!!

Monday

Little Prince was in a foul mood before school, shouting and banging about. He didn't want to go to school. He was too tired to go to school, or get dressed or anything! Its so draining dealing with him in this mood all the time :-(

Me and Princess had a pretty uneventful day once Little Prince was safely at school. The aerial engineer came round and re-aligned our satellite dish, which was about 8 inches out of alignment, despite the builders having no clue what had happened!! Strange that!! The engineer says he gets that all the time, people deny any involvement in the "breakdown" but its obvious they've done something!!

Princess Lollipop was overjoyed to have her Mick-me back, and it was the programme that came on as soon as the engineer had finished. She insisted on cuddling up on my knee and watching the whole thing.

When we picked Little Prince up from school he was once again in a totally hyped up mood, I'd hoped he would be better today as his teacher started back today. At home he was in a crazy, loud mood running riot up and down the lounge. Princess Lollipop once again copied him and joined in all the craziness, it was a long long evening! When Drama Teen came home from college I had to take Little Prince to the nearby village to get some cat food, while Princess Lollipop stayed with Drama Teen. It was a good job Drama Teen looked after Princess Lollipop as Little Prince was completely crazy in the small shop, nearly knocking lots of things over and getting in the way of the other shoppers, and talking constantly in a very loud voice. I got lots of sympathy from the checkout staff!! When will we hear from the Paediatrician!?!?!

Mr Messy called at the chippie on his way home, and not having to cook was a huge relief as I was worn out with dealing with Little Prince. I've started counting the minutes until bedtime, which really upsets me as I love Little Prince so much and don't want to wish away my time with him :-( He will only be young for such a short time and I want to enjoy my time with him, but it really isn't enjoyable being with him at the moment :-(

Love Lie-In Sundays

Mr Messy let me have a wonderful lie in till lunch time today, which after the last few nights of broken sleep with Princess Lollipop was VERY much appreciated :-) I had to get up when Mr Messy went out to pick up Drama Teen and her friends from the cinema. Once again Little Prince and Princess Lollipop weren't in the best moods and it was a difficult hour or so!

Princess Lollipop had some spectacular tantrums and we really have to stop the hitting, pinching and spitting! I have no idea where she got the idea for these behaviours from, and I'm not doing too well at stopping them! When she hits or pinches she is sat on the floor and a big fuss is made of her "victim." The spitting she is told "No" and has her mouth wiped and other than that we try to ignore it.

As the afternoon went on Princess Lollipop's behaviour got grumpier and grumpier and she had more and more tantrums. She hadn't had her nap and it showed! She eventually fell asleep cuddling up with her Daddy, which Mr Messy really appreciated as she has been very rejecting of him lately. The trouble was she feel asleep in the early evening, so I am blogging with a very bright, happy and bouncy little girl who is not going to sleep any time soon!!

Drama Teen and her Boyfriend came back here after their trip to the cinema with their friends. They were going to go to the local Farming Festival, but the weather was cold and wet and they decided not to go. Little Prince had been looking forward to going to the Farming Festival and was very angry that he didn't get to go, which as usual led to lots of crazy behaviour!

When Mr Messy took Drama Teen's Boyfriend home he called at the Chinese takeaway and brought home tea. Princess Lollipop ate lots of our rice and quite a lot of the meal too, she obviously enjoys Chinese food :-)

Saturday

Princess Lollipop had another very restless night, and I was so tired in the morning. I had no choice but to get up as Mr Messy was taking Drama Teen to the hairdressers to change her hair colour AGAIN!! She has recently changed from jet black to bright bright red, and then decided she wanted platinum blonde with a blue streak! Instead of having our usual mobile hairdresser come over and dye her hair, she decided to go to a local salon. She is bored with the way the mobile hairdresser cuts her hair and wanted a fresh look. While they were out Mr Messy went over to the shop and got some more work done down there. This meant that I was left home with the two littlies again.

We also had our builder here replacing the guttering, all the banging and clattering really unsettled Little Prince, and he was very very hyper the whole time. As the house is surrounded by scaffolding he couldn't run around in the garden to let off some steam. He also couldn't watch his favourite tv programmes as the builders have managed to knock the satellite out! I let him watch dvds but he wasnt' really that interested and spent most of the morning driving me insane. Because he was so noisy and hyped up his behaviour was unsettling Princess Lollipop and she started behaving just like he was, with added high pitched screaming!! She was also refusing to eat anything but "Bet-fa" (breakfast - oatibix, milk and honey). By the time Mr Messy rang to say they were about to come home I was tearing my hair out!! Mr Messy realised how stressed I was and brought me a lovely bunch of flowers :-)

In the afternoon we took the littlies out for lunch and then to look at how the shop was coming along. Lunch was a disaster! Princess Lollipop didn't want to eat anything and shouted NO at the top of her voice every time we offered her anything! At one point she pushed her plate so hard across the table she knocked Mr Messy's cup of tea all over the table and onto Little Prince's meal. He started shouting that his lunch was ruined and he was starving and couldn't eat, Princess Lollipop was still shouting NO and MUMMY, I'm sure the other customers in the tiny little tearoom were loving it NOT!!! We left as soon as we could!!

I took the littlies down to the shop while Mr Messy went to the furniture shop to let them know we would be needing the furniture we've ordered for the shop the week after next. Little Prince was very impressed with his picture being the first one hung in the gallery, which calmed him down a little. Then he decided to run manically around in circles, and Princess Lollipop decided to chase after him!

When we got home I spent the evening looking for door furniture (door handle, letterbox and numbers) for the shop door. I want a modern design, but in antique brass (not the shiny stuff you can find everywhere). The trouble was every time I found one of the three things I needed, I couldn't find the other two to match! After a few frustrating hours I finally found exactly what I needed, and I'll get that ordered next week :-) We are hopefully getting the new flooring delivered and fitted next week too, that gives us a week to get the furniture in and the shop fully set up, before the grand opening :-) Hopefully once it is all open there will be less pressure on Mr Messy and he can spend more time at home with us all.

Today's Ramblings

Princess Lollipop had a really restless night and I found it really hard to wake up this morning. Luckily Mr Messy had today off so I could have a little lie in, not too long as I had to ring to try and get an appointment with our GP to ask for a referral to the local hospital we visited yesterday. Unfortunately when I rang the surgery I found that our GP wasn't in today, as he is the one who has been so good with dealing with Little Prince's issues I didn't want to deal with someone else, so I'll have to try and see him next week instead.

When the post arrived we got a letter from the paediatrician we are currently trying to get a re-referral to. The letter was in answer to one sent to him from the GP overseeing Little Prince's assessment for a Statement. It was very short and to the point, stating Little Prince's diagnosis of Autism and that he was on the waiting list to see the Externalising Behaviour Clinic at the hospital CAHMS Unit. When I rang the paediatrician's secretary earlier this week, this is the GP's name that the secretary said had written to her. I wonder if they haven't received or processed the request for an urgent re-referral yet?? So maybe there is still hope that Little Prince can be seen by him, and fingers crossed it will be soon.

Mr Messy had the day off as he had so much work to do for his photography business. He spent most of the day at the shop, or in meetings at the local coffee shop. So me and Princess Lollipop were home alone most of the day. I was so tired from the lack of sleep last night, that when she went for her nap I went and laid down too. Mr Messy woke me up when he returned, he was fed up because the most important meeting he had today had been cancelled, but the other person had forgotten to let Mr Messy know!! He woke me up again when he was about to go out and pick Little Prince up from school, and again when they got back lol. Third time "lucky" I had to get up so that I could take Little Prince to his swimming lesson, and call at the bank to pick up the cash to pay the builder this weekend.

Little Prince appeared to be quite bouncy during his lesson, but his teacher is very used to him and managed to keep him under control. She was checking his progress against a swimming award scheme and he has blitzed his way through stage one and two, and only has a few more points to practice to pass stage three too :-) After his lesson we called at the chippie for tea, and had another look at how the shop looks now. I have a few niggles about how the exterior looks, and probably need to get the decorator back to change the small bits and then I'll be happy :-)

After tea Mr Messy went back over to the shop to deliver a few things and he stayed there for a while organising the spotlights how he wanted them to be. Little Prince was already in bed when he got home again. Princess Lollipop was very very clingy, but ONLY wanted Mummy she screamed and shouted no everytime anyone else tried to pick her up. Eventually I got her to sleep and Mr Messy took her up to bed, which is a good job because I'm feeling a bit suffocated by her at the moment. I know its a phase she probably has to go through but I don't get a break, she has to be touching me 24 hours a day!! Hopefully this phase won't go on for too long!!!

Disney Brainwashing :-)

Over the years I have managed to pass on my love (or brainwash as they call it!!) of all things Disney to Baby Sis and all but one of the children :-) Drama Teen is more like her Dad and doesn't get it!!

And its working on Princess Lollipop already too! She loves to watch Mick-me (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), Pat Pat (Little Einsteins), Maaany (Handy Manny) and Ozo (Special Agent Oso) on the Playhouse Disney Channel. She insists on playing Disney CDs in the car. And today when she found her toy telephone she dialled, put it to her ear and said "Ewo Mick-me" (Hello Mickey) :-) And when she disturbed after being put to bed she didn't shout for Mummy, Daddy, Drama Teen or Little Prince, oh no, she shouted for "Mick-Me"!!!

My work here is done :-)

Progress in Baby Steps

Little Prince had a mid morning appointment at a local hospital as part of his assessment for a Statement of Special Needs. Coincidently Drama Teen had two free lessons this morning and wanted to go into college later than normal, and wanted a lift there. As her college is in the same town as the hospital I was taking Little Prince to, it worked out really well. We all got up at normal school day time, and Drama Teen used the time to get primped and preened for college. I really should have insisted she help me out with the little two more, as things got wild pretty early, well not "things" but Little Prince! I left him and Princess Lollipop in the lounge while I ran up to finish getting ready to go out. In that few minutes all hell broke loose downstairs, Little Prince was screaming and shouting at Princess Lollipop and by the time I had run back downstairs both of them were sobbing. Apparently Princess Lollipop was grabbing at all sorts of things she shouldn't touch, and that I had forgotten to move out of her way! Little Prince immediately got overly stressed by being unable to stop her and started yelling at her, which upset Princess Lollipop and made her cry (she adores her big brother and hates it when he's upset or angry).

All of this made the rest of the morning almost unbearable :-( Little Prince was raging at everything anyone said or did or asked him to do. He screamed at me so much that I eventually snapped and shouted at him to do as he was told. He then burst into wracking sobs and ran upstairs :-( I got Drama Teen to get Princess Lollipop ready to go out and put her in the car while I tried to calm Little Prince down again. I eventually got him calm enough to get in the car, and we set off to drop off Drama Teen and go to Little Prince's hospital appointment. The car journey was pretty stressful as Little Prince spent the whole time threatening to either blow up the car in front for driving too slow, blow up our car for not overtaking or throw up because we were playing a yukky CD. I turned the music down and he demanded we turn it back up as he couldn't hear it anymore! Nothing we said or did could calm him down.

After dropping Drama Teen off we drove over to the hospital, and luckily found a car parking space straight away. Little Prince almost ran off in the car park, and I had to make him hold onto the buggy for the rest of the short walk to the entrance, I haven't had to do that for a long time now. Once in the hospital he made a run for the toilets, which were luckily very close and he didn't get lost!

The Children's Outpatients Dept was only round the corner, and when we arrived we were the only people there! The nurse knew exactly who Little Prince must be and greeted him by name, he wasn't phased by this at all, he obviously thinks everyone knows who he is :-) We were taken straight into the consulting room, and the Nurse explained that she was only asking questions and taking notes, she didn't need to examine Little Prince at all. He then started to get toys out of the toybox and have them battle on his chair, while I tried to answer the Nurse's questions. The referral notes obviously didn't include the fact that Little Prince was adopted, as she started off by asking about my pregnancy and his birth! I explained we adopted him and gave her the information we had. She then asked a few more questions: were his immunisations up to date; when did we notice he had difficulties; did he have any medical problems; was he diagnosed with anything to explain his difficulties and who was his primary Paediatrician. After answering all this, the Nurse then read back the notes she had made so that I could check them for accuracy. During this time Little Prince had asked if he could go and play with the "pool table that has little men that spin round" (table football!) in reception, as there was no one else in the department I said it was ok. If there had been other families waiting there would have been no way I would have allowed him to be out there unsupervised!! When we had finished the Nurse asked if he/we were getting any support for his suspected ADHD, and was very surprised to hear of the problems we are having trying to get a firm diagnosis (once people have met him they usually agree he needs the diagnosis!!). She said that this hospital (it isn't the one Little Prince has been attending already) has a wonderful ADHD Clinic and the waiting list to be seen is only a few weeks!! I will be making an appointment to see our GP for a referral to them tomorrow!! I am so hoping that this glimmer of hope isn't snuffed out like all the other avenues we have tried, everyone keep your fingers crossed for us!!

When I dropped Little Prince off at school, I was met by the headteacher, who was obviously unaware of where Little Prince had been, even though I had told both his class teacher and the school secretary!! Once we had Little Prince settled back in his classroom, she was chatting to me and saying she wished the Statement Assessment process could be quicker!! I was VERY surprised by this as I have been thinking how quickly the assessment has been going and how responsive and helpful all the professionals have been. The delay if any has been with getting the assessment requested in the first place - which is down to the school!!

Princess Lollipop was very tired when we got home and had a snack and then wanted "Up Mummy" and to be cuddled to sleep. She had been asleep on the sofa for a short while when the phone rang twice in quick succession and after that she would only settle if she was on my knee. Then the builder arrived to sort out the placement of the scaffolding so that he can replace all our guttering this weekend. The builder is a friend of ours and he came in for a chat and play with Princess Lollipop, who had been woken up by his arrival, while we waited for the scaffolders to arrive. They were working away when I had to go and pick Little Prince up from school. He got into the car and immediately started yelling about something, I am so numb to it that I can't even remember what he was angry about this time! We had to nip to the bank to pick up the money to pay the builder, which set him off even more! Luckily the bank was empty when we arrived and we were in and out in no time, we called at the corner shop and I bought the littlies a treat for in the car, which didn't stop them arguing or spilling their drinks!!

Later in the evening the builder, his wife and gorgeous 3 year old little girl called back round to pick up the money. The builder's wife is pregnant and due at the same time as both my sister's babies - Little Prince says he will explode if he hears about any more babies!! So me and her spent ages chatting about babies and cooing over Princess Lollipop. Little Prince took the builder's little girl up to play on his slide bed and they had a great time. Little Prince is definitely a ladies man, all the little girls seem to adore him :-) I always joke that there isn't a girl out there good enough for MY Little Prince and threaten to be the nightmare Mother in Law :-) I am only joking I hope that all my children end up with partners that make them happy and they have wonderful lives :-)

Even though Little Prince enjoyed the visit he was very stressed by it as his reaction once they had left showed. He went to his room and turned his light on and off so many times in quick succession that he broke it! I'm not sure if he has broken the switch, shorted the wires or blown the bulbs, or all of the above!! He does have a dim wall light that I've allowed him to have on overnight, as he is scared of sleeping in the dark. Hopefully Mr Messy will get chance in the next few days to see what the problem is and be able to fix it.

Just as I was telling Little Prince to go and get washed and put his pyjamas on, the representative of Mr Messy's framing company arrived. So instead Little Prince spent twenty minutes throwing himself up and down his slide and crashing to the floor, we know this as the lounge ceiling was shaking!! He then came down still in his clothes and lay on the floor shouting that he was too tired to get ready for bed, I had to leave Mr Messy to conduct his meeting and look after Princess Lollipop while I tried to get Little Prince to bed. Once in bed he lay there saying he was sorry for breaking his light over and over again, he can't control his impulses but he is so remorseful afterwards and says its because he is so stupid. It breaks my heart to hear him talk like that, and all this is so damaging to his self esteem :-( Hopefully we can get to see the consultant at the other local hospital and get some help for him soon.

More Setbacks

I have been waiting to hear back from Little Prince's hospital paediatrician all week, and today lost patience and rang them myself! Unfortunately, the hope of last week was immediately dashed. The paediatrician no longer works with children with behavioural problems like Little Prince's, and a letter to this affect was sent to us and our GP a couple of days ago. So we are back to square one, with the only hope of getting help for Little Prince being to wait however long "a considerable amount of time" is, to see the hospital CAHMS unit. I don't know how I can cope with the kind of behaviour Little Prince is experiencing for that long. I don't know how Little Prince is going to cope at school, or how school are going to cope with him and help him continue to learn and develop, whilst also stopping him disrupting (or even worse hurting) his classmates.

I can't see any other way forward at the moment and its really knocked me for six. I've been near to tears most of the afternoon since finding out this news, but I've got no choice but to hide those feelings and keep going, keep trying to help Little Prince. Our GP agrees that its ludicrous that we are being made to wait and put through all this extra stress when it is so obvious to him that Little Prince urgently needs help, but he can't seem to access any help either. What are families supposed to do?? Where are they supposed to turn to for help??

Wednesday

Mr Messy is working from home today, so that he could be at the shop when the new phone line is installed. He went out early, just after Drama Teen went out to catch her college bus. He rang me once he was at the shop to say that the decorator was going to be in the shop all day, so I didn't need to go down there (I was going to go down after dropping Little Prince at school, so that Mr Messy could come back and get on with his work). Mr Messy stayed to chat to the decorator, adjust the new spotlights we've had fitted, and then get some breakfast at the nearby cafe. While he was on his way back to the car after his breakfast, he bumped into one of the workers from the shop next door to ours who said the decorator was looking for him. He went back to the shop to find the Signwriter fitting the new shop sign. Mr Messy is really pleased with the quality and look of the new sign and took a few photos. He is even more pleased that the Signwriter wants to book him for a family photoshoot :-) And while he was there the phone company was just finishing off fitting the new phone line. Its all coming together :-)

When Mr Messy got back home Princess Lollipop was very pleased to see him, and keeps saying "Daddy 'ome" and grinning. Mr Messy has been feeling a little hurt recently as Princess Lollipop who used to be a total Daddy's Girl, is rejecting him and only wanting Mummy. Hopefully when Princess Lollipop gets over her cold she will be more even with her affections, which will help me too! I've been feeling suffocated by her recently!!

We went out for lunch to a new Bistro in the next town, the Bistro owner recommended our shop decorator to us, and he's a real gem :-) Princess Lollipop walked in and the few customers in there cooed over her, they weren't cooing that much when she decided to shout "No" at the top of her voice at every piece of food we offered her!! Any why?? Because she wanted the sugar lumps from the bowl on the table!!! Why on earth she wanted them so badly we have no idea, to our knowledge she hasn't seen sugar lumps before let alone tasted any!!! In the end the only thing she would eat was most of Daddy's cake!!

We walked up to school to pick up Little Prince, in the rain! I moaned most of the way to Mr Messy, well it was his idea to walk!! I had sort of arranged with Little Prince's friend J's Dad that both boys would go to J's house after school, and J's Mum was supposed to ring me to confirm these arrangements. As she hadn't rung we went to pick him up, just in case there was a problem with the playdate. It turns out that J's Mum hadn't rung because J's Dad completely forgot to tell her he'd made any plans for the boys!! She was quite happy for Little Prince to go and play, so crisis averted!! However, after we'd been home for about half an hour I got a call from J's Mum! Apparently Little Prince had been climbing on the wheelie bin and fallen off, hurting his chest and face, and making one of his teeth bleed. He cried and wanted to come home, so I went to collect him. J's Mum was mortified that he had got hurt playing at her house, but I assured her that boys will be boys, and Little Prince and J are more boy than most!!!

I brought Little Prince home and put him straight in the bath, he had scraped his knees and they were full of mud too! He whinged and complained about having a bath, but didn't start raging and it seemed to relax him a little too. When he was out and dressed I gave him some Calpol and snuggled him up on the sofa under a blanket. Drama Teen said she would do her homework downstairs and look after him, while me and Mr Messy took Princess Lollipop with us to the DIY shop. As the front (and door) of or new shop is now painted, we wanted to see if we could get the door furniture. We didn't like any of the ones in the shop, although we saw some that were almost right! We'll have to keep looking! We did find a ready made MDF radiator cover that is exactly what we need for the shop at a bargain price, so we grabbed that.

We then made a quick call at the Supermarket for petrol, then into the actual shop to get some printer paper and some more bedding for Little Prince's new bed. I'd forgotten to buy fitted sheets when buying the rest of his new bedding!! We then called in a nearby cafe for tea, Princess Lollipop decided to eat most of Daddy's instead of her own again!!

When we got home again Little Prince was fast asleep on the sofa where we had left him! I felt awful waking him up, but there is no way we could have got him up the stairs and into his higher bed without waking him anyway. He wasn't happy at being disturbed and the only way I could persuade him to stay in bed was to let him read a little bit of his Harry Potter book before he went back to sleep.

While I was putting Little Prince to bed, Mr Messy and Drama Teen had an argument which ended up with Mr Messy pushing Drama Teen onto the sofa and her rushing upstairs in tears. They made it up with each other again and re-bonded over sorting out their new iPhones, which are apparently totally wonderful!!

Tuesday

Princess Lollipop woke up with a very snuffly nose, which probably explains the overly clingy behaviour recently. She is obviously feeling worse as she was even more clingy than ever! I spent most of the day with a little limpet wrapped around me, so I wasn't able to get much done. She only had a small nap, while I managed to get my lunch, and then woke up and wanted back on Mummy's knee, where she fell back to sleep for a little longer.

Little Prince was wild and angry when he got home from school. I don't know what sets him off, but the slightest thing send him raging and shouting. Even when he isn't angry he behaviour is so wild and out of control. He is driving me to tears most days. I know my gorgeous cuddly wonderful little boy is in there somewhere, hiding under all the chaos, I just need to find a way to reach him.

Mr Messy and Drama Teen got their new iPhones delivered so Mr Messy spent most of the evening trying to get his phone swapped over. Drama Teen came home from college and got straight on with her homework, I only really saw her when she came down to look after the littlies while I cooked their tea. She then went for a quick shower before returning to her homework. Then once Mr Messy was home he showed her how to sort her new phone out. I was left all alone downstairs, feeling lonely and sorry for myself. When I finally got Princess Lollipop in bed I decided to watch an episode of Criminal Minds, and told Mr Messy I was going to watch it on my own. He eventually came down and we watched the last parts together. Princess Lollipop didn't sleep very well, and I had to keep going up to settle her back down. At least now she is in our room it is much easier and quicker to settle her down again.

Monday Madness

This morning started out fine, Drama Teen got herself up and ready in time for her college bus, and considering I used to have to wake her two or three times when she was still at school, I'm really proud of her responsible attitude. I got Little Prince to school with no problems or outbursts, which was lovely :-) When we got home I was hoping to get some jobs done with Princess Lollipop sat in her buggy with me, she had other ideas though! She has been incredibly clingy today, and not wanted to be anywhere but attached to me, although once she is clinging on my knee she wants down, then straight back up again in floods of tears. Its been an exhausting day!

During the day I got a phone call from the local hospital's Children's Outpatient Dept asking if they could make an appointment to see Little Prince on Thursday. The lady I spoke to apologised for the late notice, but she had only just come back from her holidays and was trying to get as many appointments made as soon as she could. The appointment is to check Little Prince medically as part of his assessment for a Statement of Educational Needs. I checked with the lady on the phone and they won't have to do any tests or examinations of Little Prince, just talk to us both about his medical background and behavioural issues. Its probably going to be a difficult appointment as I will have to take Princess Lollipop with us too, but at least that way they will get to see what Little Prince is really like!!

When I collected Little Prince from school, he was initially in a good mood, that rapidly deteriorated when I sent him back to class to retrieve his school jumper! He then sped off on his scooter to the car, threw the scooter on the ground and dived in the car and slammed the door! When we got home he slammed into the house and hid under a blanket on the sofa saying he was bored and tired, and shouting at Princess Lollipop whenever she tried to play peek-a-boo with him! After a while he decided to play with Princess Lollipop, but that quickly escalated into him running and jumping up and down the lounge and all over the furniture, and screaming and shouting. Princess Lollipop takes all this in her stride and even joins in with the screaming! My poor ears!!!

I had no choice but to go to the Supermarket this evening, once Drama Teen was home from college. I had to wait for her as I didn't know if she'd taken her door key with her! I was nearly in tears at the thought of taking the littlies with me in the mood they were in!! It wasn't too bad in the end, although the cashier did comment on "What a livewire" I had!! I must be so used to how Little Prince is, as my immediate thought was that he was quite calm at the moment!! I took them both to a fast food place for a quick tea after the Supermarket, I couldn't face cooking when I got home!! Despite shouting "Tea, tea, tea" as soon as she could see where she was going, Princess Lollipop only drank her smoothie and ate the grapes from the fruit bag!

By the time we got home it was almost Little Prince's bedtime. I got Drama Teen to come downstairs (she had stayed at home to complete today's homework) and look after Princess Lollipop while me and Little Prince put the shopping away together. I then supervised him emptying the dishwasher, which he now gets paid a small amount for. He tried to negotiate only getting half the money if he only emptied half the dishwasher, but I managed to persuade him to finish the job. He moaned and whinged his way through the rest of the work, but was very pleased with his earnings :-) He flatly refused to do his other job (squashing the cola cans for recycling) and went to get ready for bed. He took ages to get ready, and we could hear lots of banging and crashing, he was apparently throwing himself down his slide! Hopefully he will calm down with it soon!!

Mr Messy came home around this time and he looked after Princess Lollipop while me and Drama Teen got some of the clutter around the house into the attic. There wasn't as much as I thought there was, but every little helps!! I'd also got Drama Teen to put away some of the stuff she had left lying around the bathroom, although she only remembered one of the three lots of stuff I told her to move!! Perhaps she can't process more than one instruction at a time lol!!

Princess Lollipop carried on being super clingy and wouldn't go to her Daddy once I was back in the room. She carried on with the wanting up, then down, then up again and squirming around like a very wriggly thing!! Eventually, much to my relief, she fell asleep and I had some much needed child free time with Mr Messy to chat about our day :-)

Sunday

Mr Messy had completely forgotten that he had said I could have a lie in, and he would take the little two for "boy breakfast." Instead he arranged to meet the young lady from the local high school who has been in contact with us to try and arrange to do her work experience week with us. He and Drama Teen went down to the shop to meet the young lady and her Mum and Dad, Mr Messy admires her go getting attitude and has agreed to let her work with us for a week. She will spend Monday to Thursday in the shop with me, learning about the general retail side of things. And then on Friday when Mr Messy is in the shop, he will show her some of the post production editing he does. Then he has also arranged to take her on a shoot over the weekend, if no one has booked him for that particular weekend he will do a shoot with Princess Lollipop. He says the young lady's photography (she brought examples of her work) is good, but she only has experience with landscapes and still life, so he is going to introduce her to shooting people.

When Mr Messy and Drama Teen got back, we left Princess Lollipop with Drama Teen and me and Little Prince accompanied Mr Messy to the flooring showroom to choose the shop's new floor. The one I really really wanted was way too expensive to even consider, so we've gone for a compromise one that is a dark textured oak laminate. It is very hard wearing and scratch resistance, as was proved when the salesman scratched the sample with his car keys and didn't leave a mark. We now have to get our landlord to order the floor for us, as he uses this showroom all the time and gets fantastic discounts :-) The flooring is in stock so it won't take long to get it delivered, I've got to check with the decorator how he is getting along, so that as soon he has finished inside we can get hold of the joiner and fit the floor. It will really feel like we are getting somewhere once that is done, as the decor so far isn't too different to how it was previously, and the electrical work is pretty much unseen, so there doesn't seem to have been much change yet.

After the flooring showroom we visited a textile warehouse and bought Little Prince some new bedding for his new bed. We bought two washable and tumble dryable single quilts, so that if one needs washing he will still have one to use. While we were there we saw a chest of drawers/tall boy that will fit in the shop to have tea/coffee making stuff on top of it. It apparently an awkward size, as I've been looking all over the place and not found anything suitable so far. We also so a child sized leather club chair and foot stool that would look great in the shop, and for photo shoots, that we'll probably get too.

Afterwards we called at the bacon buttie van in the car park and had a Mum, Dad and boy late breakfast/lunch, which seemed to calm Little Prince down about missing his early breakfast outing with Daddy. When we got home Princess Lollipop was very happy to see us, and Drama Teen reported she behaved and was happy to stay with her while we were out.

Mr Messy has gone upstairs to get some photo editing done and also to finish fixing Little Prince's new bed so that he can finally use the slide! We are really proud of Little Prince's patience in not using the slide yet, he has remembered each morning not to use it and only slides his doll down there. Drama Teen has been for a shower and is now doing her college homework, she is keeping up with the responsible attitude and trying to get her homework done as soon as she can, usually the night she receives it.

Me and Mr Messy have been discussing how much we will be able to afford to pay Drama Teen for working in the shop on Saturdays, and have decided to pay her the same as if she received EMA for attending college. She is very happy with this and is probably planning her spending right now!! Earlier in the week we negotiated a deal with her that we will pay her an hourly rate for doing the family's ironing, I was surprised at how readily she agreed to this (I hate ironing!!). She says she doesn't mind ironing and really wants to have her own money, so it works out great for both of us :-)

Party On Dude!

Mr Messy and Drama Teen went out to go to a Cash & Carry shop Mr Messy joined last week at the wedding fayre. However, they were back within about ten minutes, as Mr Messy had remembered he was supposed to be photographing local business owners for a feature about the town our shop is in for a lifestyle magazine.

Little Prince has a friend's birthday party to attend at an indoor play centre after lunch. We will have to leave early as we need to go to the shop and buy a card and present before the party too! I don't think Mr Messy will be back in time to leave Princess Lollipop with him, but there is a great toddler area in the indoor play centre, so she'll have a great time with us I'm sure.

I'm trying to win some more Duplo Lego for Princess Lollipop on Ebay at the moment, fingers crossed I've bid enough! She loves doing whatever Big Brud Brud does, and he loves his Lego so she loves her Lego :-) She is also getting more and more adept at climbing and despite the playpen like barrier we have erected around "boy world" (a space for Little Prince to play safely with his toys that are too small for Princess Lollipop) she is constantly climbing in there! She is very agile and extremely determined, and there seems to be no stopping her!!

Well I didn't win the Duplo :-( I'll have to keep trying.

Me and Mr Messy had a relaxing evening after getting both little ones in bed. We watched some episodes of Criminal Minds we had taped, unfortunately they were all ones I had seen before but Mr Messy hadn't lol. I hate it when that happens as I can't join in the guessing what is/has happened!! I find psychology really interesting, and as both our older children have gone on to study this at college, and one is part way through her psychology degree and the other plans to do a similar degree, I presume its a family interest :-)

Quiet Friday

Mr Messy worked from home again today, he is feeling a little better but still not truly well again. He still isn't eating and has a really sore throat, I suggested he visit the doctor but he wouldn't, typical man!! He has agreed that if he doesn't feel better by Monday he will make an appointment, so that's a little bit of progress!!

Mr Messy walked Little Prince up to school, which is what they usually do, so was quite acceptable to Little Prince. He ride his scooter as we realised it must have been left at school throughout the holidays!! We checked with the school caretaker and there are about 6 or 7 scooters in the boiler room, so Little Prince's must be among them!! The caretaker did joke that she was going to have a scooter sale if they aren't collected soon!

We had a very quiet day and didn't really do much, hopefully that will help Mr Messy feel better. His throat got worse throughout the day, but he did seem brighter that yesterday. After school Little Prince re-started his swimming lessons, he was very happy to return to his lessons but quite over excited too. I warned his teacher how he was and she kept a pretty tight rein on him through the lesson, afterwards she said he had behaved beautiful and swam really well :-) It didn't last and by the time we got back home he was once again in a foul screechy mood and slammed his way upstairs shouting he hated living here!! He came down a little while later in his pyjamas, saying he was going to bed!! We managed to persuade him to stay downstairs until after his tea, and after a while he calmed down a little. We did make sure he was in bed on time, as he said he woke up at 4.30am this morning, which might explain his behaviour!

I spoke to Little Prince's hospital Paediatrician's secretary and she is going to flag up Little Prince's notes for the Paediatrician to look at and make a decision about seeing Little Prince again. She asked if we had considered medication for Little Prince as that was mentioned in his notes from June last year, and I told her we had agreed to a trial period on medication but that when Little Prince was referred to the hospital CAHMS department that seemed to get forgotten, and that Little Prince's behaviour had deteriorated considerably since then and with him joining a larger class in the juniors, we were very worried about how he was going to cope. She agreed that Little Prince needs an urgent review and that she would make sure we heard something back from them next week. Fingers crossed that all this will get us somewhere and get Little Prince the help he obviously desperately needs.

Little Prince and Princess Lollipop were in bed early, so I was looking forward to a quiet relaxing evening writing an email to LMS and watching Lie to Me with Drama Teen. However, Princess Lollipop had other ideas and she woke up while we were having tea, and despite me trying to settle her for over half an hour and then Mr Messy coming to bed himself and trying to settle her, she would not go back to sleep. I ended up bringing her back downstairs for a couple of hours and didn't get to bed until very late, tomorrow is going to be a long day!

Educational Psychologist Visit

Mr Messy had already planned to work from home today so he could attend a dentist appointment, and as he came home from work last night feeling really ill, that worked out well. He didn't have to face the two hour drive to work, but he was also too ill to go to the dentist, so I've rearranged that for in a few weeks time. It also meant that Mr Messy was here when the Educational Psychologist visited to discuss his report for Little Prince's statutory assessment for a Statement. The Ed Psych is a very laid back kind of guy, when we first had meetings with him I thought he was ignoring what I was saying or dismissing it, however, once I read his reports on our meetings it became obvious that he really does listen and take in everything even though he doesn't appear to be doing so :-) He spent almost an hour here and made copious notes, he also read us the draft copy of his report, and once he has added in our input he will send us copies. He was very sympathetic about Little Prince's problems and recognised that he has a lot to cope with and does very well considering all the issues and problems he faces. The Ed Psych also discussed with us a parental support group he is hoping to set up in the local area, which we readily put our names down for, apparently we are his first recruits :-) He also spent a while discussing Buddhism with Mr Messy and it turns out they have attended some of the same Buddhist Centres, small world!

Mr Messy rang the phone company who were supposed to install the shop's phone line yesterday, he was put on hold for over half an hour, so wasn't in the greatest temper when he finally got to speak to the right department!! They couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation for why they didn't come yesterday, trying to say it was a tentative date, which is not what the letter booking the appointment said! Mr Messy has made it perfectly clear that they had better not mess up the next appointment, fingers crossed for their sakes that they don't!!

Little Prince's swimming teacher rang up to ask if we still wanted his private lessons, and if we wanted to start on Friday. I think his lessons are a great help to Little Prince, increasing his confidence and safety in the water, given his current lack of impulse control he needs to be as safe as possible! And also it gives him a physical outlet for some of his energy, although his lessons have never yet tired him out at all, except for once when he did butterfly stroke for most of the lesson. His teacher has also attended a Special Needs training course during the holidays and is currently setting up a SNs swimming group, which she asked if we'd be interested in Little Prince attending. I said it would be a great idea, to get Little Prince used to swimming in a group setting again, but also warned her about his chaotic behaviour during the holidays. We have agreed that Little Prince will start attending the group once his teacher thinks he has settled down enough to cope with integrating into a group.

I've been feeling a bit down since the meeting with the Ed Psych, discussing all the issues we are having with Little Prince really hammers it home how much he (and we) are struggling. My mood wasn't helped by Little Prince coming home in a foul mood. Despite me explaining at the start of the week that he wasn't having friends over to play (or going to a friend's house to play) until next week, he insisted on pestering to do this. He slammed into the house, stamped all the way up the stairs and slammed his bedroom door. He did come down a few minutes later but was still in a very angry mood, and it took ages for him to calm down again.

Drama Teen had her first day at college today, and she was very nervous this morning. I was very proud of her for managing to get up when her alarm went off, which is an hour before I get up and I'd warned her I wasn't getting her up, she would have to be responsible. She still seemed nervous when she left for the bus, but strode out looking fairly confident. When she returned home she said it wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be and seemed to have enjoyed herself. I think getting back into the swing of homework has come as a bit of a shock to her system after so long without having to do any!

Little Prince and Drama Teen were at logger heads almost from the moment she walked in the door, which is pretty normal but is rising to epic proportions at the moment!! I managed to persuade Drama Teen to look after Princess Lollipop in the lounge, and took Little Prince into the kitchen with me while I cooked tea. Little Prince was fairly happy to do jobs around the kitchen and it kept him and Drama Teen apart! However, when I asked Little Prince to get me something from the lounge, he managed to get Drama Teen to screaming pitch within moments of stepping into the room!! I really don't know how to help them get along any better! Drama Teen makes no allowances for Little Prince's difficulties, and Little Prince deliberately winds her up and is more violent to her than anyone else in the family. I wish there was a way to fix it :-(

The ironing service rang while Mr Messy was out meeting with a potential client, so I sent him round to pick up the first lot of completed ironing. Its great to just have to put it away, and to have the ironing mountain gone :-) They rang again later in the evening to say the rest of the ironing was ready to be collected on Friday afternoon. Me and Mr Messy are going to work out a budget for getting them to deep clean the house and hopefully they will be able to get started soon. I am really looking forward to getting the house in order, as the mess and clutter are really getting on my nerves now.

Calm before the Storm

Me, Drama Teen and Princess Lollipop had a quiet day at home waiting for the telephone company to ring to be let in the shop and install the new phone line. We spent our day clearing programmes off the Sky+ which meant we enjoyed a few episodes of Glee, followed by me getting some jobs done while Drama Teen watched some programmes she had recorded for herself. We didn't get time to watch the episode of Lie to Me we had recorded though.

When I collected Little Prince from school we went straight round to our shop to check if the telephone company had caught the decorator in, and got in that way to complete the job. Unfortunately they hadn't, and they hadn't left a card to say they had been either. I don't know what is going on, and I haven't got their contact details to get in touch, I'll have to wait till Mr Messy gets home and sort it out then.

Little Prince got really upset when we got home when he saw the cats had once again caught and killed a small bird in the garden. He was all set to go outside and "deal with the stupid cats" when I reminded him he wasn't allowed in the garden at the moment. Cue another meltdown, and lots of stamping and shouting about hating the cats.

I arranged for a local ironing/cleaning service to come round and give me a quote. They could only come after school, I had forgotten to explain they were coming and Little Prince didn't cope with the intrusion AT ALL. He went from his normal overly bouncy self to a screaming banshee whirlwind in moments! All the fuss scared and upset Princess Lollipop, so she started to cry and shout for Mummy. I could barely hear what the ladies from the ironing/cleaning service were saying with all the racket! I asked Drama Teen to keep the little two with her in the lounge while I showed the ladies the house, Little Prince escalated his behaviour to new heights and while I was dealing with the ladies, he managed to break his bedroom door, have Drama Teen in tears and keep Princess Lollipop so wound up that she never stopped screaming. I was so embarrassed by their behaviour and couldn't stop apologising, what on earth must they have thought?!?! They have taken the ironing mountain with them, and will return with it before weekend. We also talked about a plan to get the house deep cleaned from top to bottom and then it wouldn't take much work each week to stay on top of it. That will take a lot of pressure off me, as trying to get anything done with Little Prince and/or Princess Lollipop's "help" is impossible, and once I start working in our new shop I'll have even less time.

Verdict on First Day Back at School

Little Prince says he is settled back in at school and he was settled waaaay before lunchtime :-) I wasn't called over to talk to his teacher, so that can only be a good sign :-) The one thing that might upset him over the coming couple of weeks is that his actual teacher has had her family emergency, and won't be in. The substitute teacher is one that was used extensively last year, and one that he trusts and feels safe with. So hopefully this will mean he will be able to cope with the sudden, unannounced change and will stay calm and well behaved. Fingers firmly crossed!!

I've decided not to let Little Prince go over to friends to play, or to have friends over to our house this week, to give him time to settle back into the school routine properly. He has been so wild over the holidays that I feel he needs this "calmer" time for a while, when he plays with friends after school it can easily and quickly escalate into chaos and I've had enough of that this last 6 weeks!! Little Prince was quite upset about this at school and begged and begged for his friend J to come over, but I stood my ground and explained to J's Dad what we were doing and he understood. Once Little Prince realised he wasn't going to sway my decision he didn't make any more fuss, and apart from a big argument with Drama Teen over what TV programme to watch and his usual getting in Princess Lollipop's face and talking aggressively (she just tells him to "Dop it" ie "stop it"), he has been calm and stable since we got home. Even when I explained to him that he wasn't allowed to play in the garden until he and Daddy had, had a talk about what Little Prince had been up to! When gently pushed Little Prince knew what Daddy wanted to talk to him about "Messing with Daddy's stuff." I've explained that Daddy isn't cross, he just needs to talk to Little Prince about it and how unsafe it is.

First Day of School

Today was Little Prince's first day back at school, and his first day in the Juniors. He spent most of yesterday telling us how terrified he was feeling, whilst also being really excited about seeing his friends again. He will have the same teacher he has had for the last two years, the four teachers have shuffled around classes, and one of the main reasons was so that Little Prince could carry on having the same teacher he was used to :-) I know it isn't the only reason, but I really appreciate the care and thoughtfulness from his teacher and the school :-) I have been emailing with his teacher, letting her know how Little Prince is (or more accurately isn't!!) behaving, forewarned is forearmed and all that!! She has also let me know that she has a family situation that could mean she has to take time off suddenly, so that I can prepare Little Prince and help him cope, if possible!

I've just had a phone call from the Educational Psychologist who is coming to see me at home on Thursday, to update his information about Little Prince, as part of the assessment to see if he needs a Statement of Special Educational Needs.

My mobile hairdresser has just been and trimmed my hair, so now I can see past my shaggy dog fringe!! I feel so much better now, having my hair in my eyes gives me a headache and makes me feel all scruffy, so now my headache has gone and I feel a lot smarter :-)
I've washed all the bedding from Little Prince's old toddler bed, as someone from Freecycle is coming to collect it in an hour or so. He doesn't cope very well with changes and has refused to move into a big bed, but he is so tall he really doesn't fit in the toddler bed any more, not surprising really as he is 7 1/2!! He knows the bed and bedding are going, and is very upset, so its probably best that they go while he is at school and tonight he and Mr Messy can finish the last bits on his new slide bed. Hopefully he will sleep well and not just mess about up and down the slide all night!!!

Shopping Shenanigans

Yesterday we had to take Drama Teen shopping for the things she needs for college. I was dropping her off at her boyfriend's house after he finished school, and he lives in the town we had to go shopping in, so it was convenient. As Little Prince wasn't back at school, we had to take him too, which wasn't so convenient! He did NOT want to go shopping and he did NOT want to shop for someone other than himself, and he certainly did NOT want to shop for Drama Teen's jeans!! He shouted and made a fuss in every shop we went in, then decided he would shut his eyes and not look at all the yukky clothes, which of course meant he walked into everything! He had a complete meltdown when Drama Teen tried on anything! We only managed to visit two shops, luckily she found some suitable jeans, and we only had to get her notebooks/pens etc after that. I was very proud of Drama Teen that she realised how much Little Prince was struggling and didn't insist on getting every single thing on her list, just the essentials. We tried going to a cafe to see if eating would calm Little Prince down a little, he behaved fairly well in the cafe, but Princess Lollipop decided she didn't want any of the food we had bought for her and insisted on shouting "No" at the top of her voice, most of the time we were there! If it isn't one of them its the other!!

When we got home Little Prince played out in the garden, which seemed to use up a little bit of energy. Eventually got him to bed and breathed a HUGE sigh of relief. I feel so awful, but I am really looking forward to him getting back to school and having a break. Usually I love having the kids at home for the school hols, but this Summer has been long and difficult and I've reached the end of my patience and understanding!

When Mr Messy came home he went out to his shed to get a charger for his drill so that he could finish building Little Prince's new bed. He found the charger, unfortunately he also found the chaos that Little Prince had wreaked in the shed!! He has obviously been sneaking in there and has knocked loads of tools all over the floor and broken quite a few, tried to open cans of paint and messed with lots of dangerous tools!! We are going to have to ban him from playing in the garden until we can fit a padlock to the shed door. Tonight Mr Messy is going to explain to Little Prince how dangerous this "game" is and we are going to get a padlock fitted this weekend!

Wedding Fayre

Mr Messy and Drama Teen have gone to a local Wedding Fayre this morning, to check out the competition!! On the way there they let the electrician back into the shop to finish off the last bits and pieces, hopefully we don't have a disaster again like yesterday! Drama Teen is being dropped off at her boyfriend's house on their way home, so we won't see her until this evening, when we will have to go and pick her up again. Its getting quite irritating that it is only us that does the running around, and Boyfriend's parents don't do any of it, but as we are the only ones willing to do it we'll have to carry on or the kids wouldn't be able to see each other at all, and that would break Drama Teen's heart :-(

When the electrician has finished he's going to ring us up, and me and the little two have to go and lock the shop up and collect the keys. Then I get the wonderful experience of taking two little ones to the supermarket!! What fun!!!

By Jove I think we've cracked it!

Hoping I'm not tempting fate here, but me, Mr Messy and Princess Lollipop all got a better night's sleep last night :-) I was able to reach over and comfort Princess Lollipop as soon as she disturbed, so she didn't wake up properly and went straight back to sleep. I'm a little fuzzy on how many times it happened, but it was certainly a LOT easier than having to run to her room and try to get her to sleep. And she stayed in her cot all night too, so me and Mr Messy weren't crushed at the edges of the bed trying to avoid flailing limbs and being tickled by her mass of curls :-) Fingers crossed this solves the sleeping issues we've been battling with since we returned home from Ethiopia!

Electrickery!!

We got a call from the electrician working in the shop to say that there was a problem! Apparently when he turned the electricity off to complete the job, it turned off the electricity to a connected property at the back of ours. Unfortunately when he turned the electricity back on the connected property didn't come back on! All the meters and control panels are in the neighbouring shop, which had already closed!! Mr Messy made loads of phone calls and ended up going back to the shop for an hour or so to make sure everything was put right and all our neighbours are still speaking to us! Luckily he was able to sort everything out. Unfortunately I got a phone call to say in all the rush and confusion he had forgotten to take the shop keys with him, so me and the little two had to run over there and drop them off. Princess Lollipop screamed most of the way there, she had just come out of her bath (which she loves, but HATES having her hair washed and brushed) and was in a foul mood. She was also very unimpressed to see her bedroom without her "nightnight" (cot) and screamed even more when she saw it in Mummy and Daddy's room!! She had just about stopped screaming when we arrived at the shop, but as soon as she saw her Daddy she had to let him know what a bad time she was having and started screaming again! He was a bit shocked with the greeting, but she soon calmed down again after lots of hugs.

Excellent Reading

We bought Little Prince the new Lego Harry Potter game for the Wii at the start of the Summer holidays, for all the rainy days we are bound to get in an English Summer!! He LOVED it and became very adept at playing, and between me, him and LMS we managed to complete the whole game!! The first time we have ever completely finished a game before :-)

Anyway playing the game got Little Prince very interested in Harry Potter and he's watched some of the films we have on DVD and also started reading the first book - himself!! He manages a few pages a night and LOVES it :-) He is understanding the story he is reading too and takes great pleasure in telling us all about it the next morning, or recognising the bits he has read in the DVDs or in the game.